Boeing Asks Federal Mediator to Resolve Engineers Dispute

By Susanna Ray -
Nov 29, 2012

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. said it asked for federal
mediators to help resolve “significant differences” remaining
in wage discussions between the world’s largest aerospace
company and its engineers union in Seattle.

“We’re really at a critical point in the talks, and it’s
better to have a mediator come in sooner than later so no one
side gets locked in to their position,” said Doug Alder, a
spokesman for Boeing. “We’re concerned about a lack of
progress, and we think this is something that could help.”

Boeing reached out to the Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service as soon as today’s meeting wrapped up with
the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace,
or Speea, Alder said. The union said today it was disappointed
that Boeing negotiators left mid-session and that it’s “willing
to consider any option to avoid a work stoppage.”

The planemaker has used non-binding mediation before,
including for the last talks with Speea in 2008, Alder said.
Those negotiations began while unionized machinists were out on
an eight-week strike, their fourth walkout since 1989. Speea has
struck at Boeing only twice since its 1946 founding: for one day
in 1993 and 40 days in 2000.

Boeing Defense President Dennis Muilenburg said at an
investors conference in New York today that the two sides were
having “productive discussions” and expected to reach a
successful conclusion.

Contract Goal

“Our goal is to get a contract that reflects the value our
members bring to the Boeing company,” Ray Goforth, Speea’s
executive director, said in an e-mail today.

The 23,000 engineers and technical workers represented by
Speea, largely in the Seattle area where Boeing’s commercial
headquarters are located, are working without a contract now.
Their last agreement expired Oct. 6 and was extended through
Nov. 25 after they rejected Boeing’s first offer.

Goforth said Nov. 20 that it was increasingly likely he’d
seek strike authorization from members once the extension ran
out. The union objects to Boeing’s plan to shrink salary growth
and switch new hires into a 401(k)-style retirement program,
rather than the current pension plan.

The union has encouraged engineers to refuse voluntary
overtime and “work to rule” to slow down the development and
deliveries of jets. Boeing is in the midst of boosting
production 60 percent in the four years through 2014. Boeing’s
engineers not only design new planes, they inspect those being
built and sign off on the work before aircraft are delivered.